15 July 2009

-- July 15 (Bloomberg) -- The Ontario government will offer buyers of electric cars incentives of as much as C$10,000 ($8,852), the Globe and Mail reported, citing unidentified people.

The subsidy will be available to consumers beginning next year, the newspaper said. Canada’s most populous province will also make plug-in or electric vehicles account for as much as 20 percent of its government fleet by 2020, the Globe said.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty will announce the new program at a General Motors Corp. car dealership in Toronto today, the newspaper said.

Heck... it's not like it comes out of his pocket, huh?

"Premier Dalton McGuinty says he doesn't regret giving General Motors $250 million of Ontario taxpayers' money, even though the company is closing its Windsor transmission plant."

"I only hope I get to pick the colour of my Government Motors electric car."

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RELATED:

Industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers echoed Mr. Beatty's concern. "A cynic would say this is just government subsidizing a product that is produced by a company they own. I think that is a bit too cynical."

Where are they plugging these electric cars into? Surely not those nasty coal fired power plants....the ones Mc Slippery was shutting down....the ones that help make Ontario Hydro the single largest emitter of GHG's in Canada....Naw, couldn't be.

sorry nancy... as both jag & sync point out... it's simply a way to divert voter's attention from stuff like dalton's broken promises to shut down coal-fired power generation in ontario... which, hypocritically, will now be used to recharge these vehicles.

it's got nothing to do with the environment... it's simply about generating votes.

Nancy apparently believes that we should keep glaziers fully employed by creating a broken window program...

I can just see it: give unemployed yout' a handful of rocks and a slingshot. Why, with all the taxes generated by the buying of glass and glaziers paying taxes, we'll all be wearing diamond shoes soon.

Quick: someone check a list of electric car sellers against Liberal contributors. Wanna bet there is a large co-relation?

Anybody who thinks this will reduce emissions is as stupid as McGuinty. Every Watt used to charge the batteries will be incremental to all current uses. Which means it's being generated by coal plants which would otherwise be shut down. Electric cars will increase emissions, not lower them. Until every fossil fueled power plant is closed, any electrical device that could be substituted with a gas alternative, is a net higher emissions device.

As a Glazier I welcome your suggestion JA. Here's an idea, why not just look at California and see what they've done to themselves bending over backwards trying to save the earth from warming then cooling then warming again. We all know we need alternative energy supplies, we all know that oil and coal will not last forever, but, how about building an electric car that can go 400 or 500 kms without being charged, and, a battery that isnt 5,000$, and, built in Canada, and, how about pushing these cars when the province only produces hydro and nuclear energy?? This is so dumb its hard to explain. billg